Playlist

Posted by Ann @ 11:57 AM Mon, May 12, 2008

Ruin, no. But it is annoying. People need to learn that if they're sitting near me (that would generally be very, very far away from the stage), there is no way that they're going to get a good picture of what's going on onstage with their cell phone camera. So they can stop trying 40 or 50 times--trying once I get, but they need to learn.

Posted by JB @ 1:09 PM Mon, May 12, 2008

Just to echo Ann's comments, it is rude to the performer and the audience to play with your phone during a concert. Just common sense--most pepole don't pay the $50+ for a ticket to sit and play with their phone. At the same time, I think it's stupid to try and call a friend on their cell so they can hear the music, take pictures (which will be awful), or continuously text someone. This kind of behavior screams "It's my first time at a real concert and I'm a total idiot because I don't know how to behave."

Posted by Thor Christensen @ 1:19 PM Mon, May 12, 2008

Reader Ray writes: "People have been bringing cameras to shows for years although now it's this huge taboo. You pay your money you should be able to do what you want at a concert."

Posted by Ozarks Mike @ 1:24 PM Mon, May 12, 2008

At the Jimmy Buffett show at Pizza Hut Park, many folks in front and behind us talked through much of the show on their cell phones. The sound system at the park wasn't so hot and these folks yelled above the PA system making it even harder to hear what the Pirate had to say/sing! The $95 tickets weren't the best we've had over the years and the phone yakers were made it that much more difficult!

Posted by Rick Carp @ 2:28 PM Mon, May 12, 2008

It seems to me that people go to shows to socialize. I have been to at least a dozen shows in the last year wher I couldn't hear the band for people talking. Frampton at HOB for example.He did an acoustic number and I had no idea what he was playing. Everyone around me on the floor were talking!It's all venues as well! RC

Posted by Larry Mills @ 8:27 AM Tue, May 13, 2008

Cellphones can ruin the movie experience. Who would turn on a flashlight during in a dark movie theater? Texting may be quiet but is very visible.

Posted by Karen Ehlers @ 10:27 AM Wed, May 14, 2008

The fact that waving your cellphone has replaced waving a lighter just insults me as a music fan and a concertgoer. But, thank god, every now and then I attend a concert that isn't filled with these idiots.

At last year's Tool concert in Ft Worth, while the band took a break, the whole place turned up their lighters as a silent homage to them. It was a breathtaking moment.

Posted by Karen Ehlers @ 10:28 AM Wed, May 14, 2008

The fact that waving your cellphone has replaced waving a lighter just insults me as a music fan and a concertgoer. But, thank god, every now and then I attend a concert that isn't filled with these idiots.

At last year's Tool concert in Ft Worth, while the band took a break, the whole place turned up their lighters as a silent homage to them. It was a breathtaking moment.

Posted by Tamara @ 1:38 PM Wed, May 14, 2008

I think it's a general decline in manners and attention span. People at the Roger Waters concert were constantly squirming, talking, phoning, getting beer, etc. (When the giant pig emerged over our heads, we ALL had our camera phones out, though!)

Posted by mbimotmog @ 10:39 AM Tue, Jun 10, 2008

Strange, no one asked if usurious ticket prices, re-entry prohibitions, ridiculously high beer prices, or even laughably staged encores are ruining concerts.

Cell phones are annoying, I'll grant that, but whenever you're at a public venue there's always going to be something you don't like that you can't control. Just deal with it or listen to it on CD.